


Seasonal Snippets

by koalathebear



Category: Homeland
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Seasonal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 11:53:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2849918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set some time after the season 4 finale …  Unabashedly fluffy, but what do you expect from seasonal fic?</p><p>Please don't expect plot or anything deep here ... Just indulging my silly side ... As usual, unbeta'd (tsk tsk), so if you find errors, please just tell me and I'll fix 'em.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Will you be home for Christmas?

"What the fuck, Carrie?"

"Well Merry Early Christmas to you, too Quinn."

There was a silence on the line. “You do know that technically we’re not supposed to get calls while on mission.”

Carrie glanced over at Dar Adal who was sitting in the corner of the ops room, avoiding eye-contact studiously.

"Let’s just say I can be very persuasive."

"Look Carrie, I - "

"Don’t try to explain, Quinn. You up and fucked off without any kind of goodbye. Then I find out where you are. You better get back here quick," she told him fiercely.

"Yeah, trying," he told her, rolling his eyes. The quick in-out mission that had been promised to him had become a protracted affair when one of the targets turned out to have particularly valuable intel and they needed to smuggle him out rather than … eliminate him.

"I’ve had it with excuses, Quinn. I’m sitting here with a sprig of mistle-toe and I sure as fuck am not kissing your boss come Christmas day."

"Please don’t flatter yourself, Carrie - I don’t recall offering," Dar Adal muttered, his facial expression one of long-suffering tolerance.

"Excuse me, this is a private call," Carrie told him coldly.

"Oh I am sorry, Carrie. Would you like me to leave the room? Anything else I can do for you? Shine your shoes? Comb your hair?"

"Go fuck yourself," Carrie told him with a smile.

Quinn’s mouth twitched. “If I wasn’t already motivated to get out of here before Christmas, consider me motivated now,” he told her.

"Good. And Quinn?"

"Yeah Carrie?"

"Next time you leave without saying goodbye like that, I’ll make you sorry."

"I already am," he told her softly.

"Oh god, no blackmail is worth this," Dar Adal groaned. "Enough - clear the line of this inane chatter."

"Grinch Adal is getting grumpy," Quinn remarked and Carrie grinned. "Sorry I won’t have time to buy you a present."

"Just get back here safe and we’ll call it even."

"Roger that."

"Dear lord, can someone please cut the fucking line before I lose my dinner?" Dar Adal demanded petulantly.


	2. I'll be home for Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the conversation ...

"So what the fuck was that?" Rob demanded, looking amused.

Quinn continued cleaning his gun and didn't reply.

"Don't pretend to be deaf, douche-bag," Rob joked as he threw his sock at his team-mate. Quinn pretended to recoil.

"Fuck off man, that's toxic - you trying to get us all killed?"

Laughing, Rob retrieved his sock before walking back to his own seat in the corner of the deserted farmyard where the team were hiding out for the night. 

Tied up in the corner with a black cloth bag over his head was their captive – a member of the Taliban who was a little bruised, but otherwise relatively unharmed. Were it not for him, the team would have been gone days ago but smuggling live cargo out of Syria was a far more time-consuming proposition that required more manoeuvring than a simple exfil. 

"Peter's got a girlfriend," Liam chanted from the other side of the room, his light blue eyes gleaming with unholy amusement

"You want a bullet in your other shoulder, too?" Quinn demanded, his lips twitching slightly. The mission had gone remarkably smoothly with Liam the only casualty of their encounters with the enemy. Quinn had dug the bullet out and patched him up as best he could. With no sign of infection, the wound was doing well and Liam was still in fine form, his irreverent chatter unimpeded.

"Hit a raw nerve have we?" Liam asked.

"Keep that up and I'll be hitting more than your nerves," Quinn promised. That made the rest of the group laugh.

"Did you promise her you'd be home for Christmas, Quinnie Boy? Rookie mistake," Liam told him. "I gave up giving those sorts of promises after my third divorce," Liam said pensively.

"I have no idea why you keep marrying them," Nolan remarked balefully as he got up to take a cup of water to the prisoner. Tall and lanky, he also had a long and narrow face that looked perpetually mournful. His manner was equally dour.

"Because unlike you uncultured sons of bitches - I'm a romantic," Liam announced loftily.

"Is that what you call it?" Rob asked sardonically. "And here was me thinking that you were just a dumb fuck who couldn't get them into the sack any other way."

Liam's unprintable response to Rob made them all laugh.

Now Quinnie Boy here might be a real romantic," Rob mused. "Is this girl the reason you were thinking of opting out on this mission?"

"Stop talking out of your ass," Quinn drawled and Rob snorted.

"You'd better not go back empty handed or she'll be even more pissed at you – you'll need a present for her."

"And where do you suggest I find a present in a deserted Iraqi farmhouse?" Quinn demanded.

The sound of an engine was heard outside and the men fell silent, switched off their lamps and moved to the window and looked out cautiously, all laughter and conversation vanishing immediately.

"It's Nate with the vehicle," Rob confirmed and Nolan brought the prisoner out and ushered him into the van. Quinn climbed into the passenger seat as Rob took the driver's seat. He ignored the chatter of his team-mates as he stared out the window at the cloudless sky that was filled with brilliant stars.

He still had no idea how Carrie had managed to persuade Dar Adal to let her speak to him. The protocols were strict, no comms … the last communication had merely been to let ops know that they were bringing in a prisoner. He'd received the surprise of his life when Carrie's voice had come over the line.

Hope, delight and happy disbelief had overwhelmed him momentarily. He had been so convinced that she'd considered and dismissed his 'offer'. To honest, he wasn't actually sure what that offer really was … it had felt more like a proposal of sorts which was probably why it wasn't surprising that she'd been very hesitant about committing to anything. He knew he'd fucked up by pushing her … The realisation that he still had a chance was probably the best Christmas gift he'd ever received.

"Stop grinning like an idiot sonofabitch," Rob told him good-naturedly. "It's creepy as all fuck and you're throwing me off."

"Focus on the road, asshole," Quinn retorted and closed his eyes, a smile curving his firm mouth.

He'd never promised anyone to be home for Christmas before. It was a good feeling.


	3. Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's back!

As Carrie stuck her key in the lock, she was startled to see it swing open before she could turn the key, Maggie grinning at her broadly.

"Err – thanks," she remarked quizzically, wondering what Maggie was looking so happy about.

"You have a visitor," Maggie announced mischievously.

"If it's Saul, I still don't want to see him," Carrie said wearily, running her hand across her eyes to rub at them.

"It's not Saul," Maggie told her, brimming with excitement and Carrie frowned, looking very puzzled. "Have you been drinking?" she asked her sister, although Maggie's cheeks weren't flushed as they normally would be if she'd been sampling the booze.

"Where's Franny?" she asked as she walked into the lounge and then stopped dead in her tracks.

"Quinn?" she demanded, staring in shock at Quinn who was wearing a pair of reindeer ears, a red shiny nose and had both Josie and Ruby riding on his back giggling uncontrollably as he was apparently pretending to be a reindeer. Seated nearby was Franny who was clearly very entertained by the antics in the room and was throwing her fists around and chortling in delight.

"Carrie – you can have a reindeer ride, too!" Josie called out happily and Quinn and Carrie both cleared their throats awkwardly.

"Carrie," Quinn greeted her as he carefully removed the girls from his back and straightened, removing the ears and nose at the same time. He crossed the room and they moved to kiss one another on the cheek. Both misjudged and ended up banging heads instead. "Shit," Quinn muttered as Carrie muttered "Fuck", both moved backwards, looking foolish.

To try to move past the awkwardness, Quinn walked over to pick up Franny and lift her into his arms where she cuddled him comfortably, blinking owlishly at her bemused mother. "She's been a good girl," he remarked, grinning down at the baby who grinned back at him and punched him in the nose with her fist. 

"How long have you been back? When did you get here? Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?" she demanded in a rush. He looked fine. Better than fine with his hair tousled and his light eyes staring at her with an expression that she was too nervous to try to interpret.

"Got back this afternoon. Been here a few hours. I'm fine. I'm not hurt," he answered her questions with a smile curving his mouth. 

"Well good," she replied stiltedly.

"Girls, do you want to come and help me cook?" Maggie asked breezily. "Peter, I'll take Franny with me," she told him, taking the infant out of his arms. "Kiss your mommy," she said, holding Franny towards Carrie so that Carrie could brush her lips across the silken skin of her daughter's cheek. "Well be in the kitchen," she called over her shoulder. "With the door closed," she added meaningfully.

Carrie winced and then rolled her eyes as Maggie and the girls vanished into the kitchen.

"I take it she's already invited you to stay for dinner?" Carrie asked him and he nodded.

"I said I'd check with you first to see if you minded," he replied steadily.

"That's big of you," she remarked, tilting her head to one side.

"She told Josie to set a place for me anyway," Quinn confided and Carrie laughed.

"That's Maggie …"

She jammed her hands into her pockets. "So let me get this straight. You get pissed at me because I can't make up my mind in a day and then disconnect your phone and leave on what many would consider a suicide mission instead …"

"Carrie – "

"Without saying goodbye."

"I – "

"Asshole. What are you like five years old?" she demanded of him. "Don't get your way so throw a tantrum and leave? What are you doing?" she demanded as he pulled his cell out of his pocket.

Her cell rang and she pulled it out and looked at the display.

_Peter Quinn._

Answering it, she stood before him, staring at his face with great curiosity. "Why are you calling me, Quinn?"

"As you can see, my number's back … they disconnect them temporarily when we're on a mission … " He hung up.

"You just hung up on me - you're still an asshole," she told him, putting her cell away. "And don't think I'm going to forgive you just because you played reindeer with the girls."

His lips twitched. "I know how it looked but I found out about the mission at short notice. If there had been time to talk with you, I'd have told you about it before I left … as it was, you had a lot you were dealing with so I just decided to leave and talk to you when I came back."

"If you came back."

"I'm here aren't I?"

She nodded slowly.

"How were things with your mother – and your brother?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No, we're not talking about me … this time, we talk about you. And if you're ok."

"I'm fine – now," he told her with a smile. She raised an eyebrow. "I'm telling the truth," he told her steadily, his light eyes also smiling.

"OK, good," she nodded emphatically. "That's very good. I'm glad to hear it," she told him with the polite air of a colleague.

He stepped in towards her and she stepped back. He lifted an eyebrow questioningly. "Nervous?"

"Because of you? No fucking way- don't flatter yourself," she protested a little too emphatically and then tripped a little as she stepped backwards and he reached out and caught her arm, steadying her easily before backing her up against the wall.

Even in heels, she seemed very short beside him and she was quivering. "I lied, I don't have any fucking mistletoe," she told him baldly.

He laughed, the sound low and husky. "I don't need any fucking mistletoe," and his mouth covered hers as his arms went about her and pulled her against him.

"Welcome home, Quinn," she murmured against his lips and allowed herself to enjoy the simple pleasure of having him back.


	4. O Christmas Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As if my brain wasn't exploding enough, in a comment on snippet #3, mytimeofthe year asked me: "Are you going to write the dinner conversation? Or maybe it's all just googly eyes? Or maybe it's Maggie vomiting cuz these two are just too much..."
> 
> I wasn't actually even going to write the dinner scene but here it is ...

"So Peter says that he's just come back from a work trip," Maggie remarked as she and Carrie carried food out to the table. Quinn was carrying Franny while Josie and Ruby helped him get the table ready for dinner, giving him very detailed instructions on how things were to be done.

"Yeah," Carrie replied unexpansively.

"He seems nice," Maggie commented and Carrie shrugged.

"He's … he's Quinn," Carrie said, pulling a wry smile and shrugging again. 

Maggie rolled her eyes and shook her head at her sister's unenlightening observation.

"Does he have somewhere to be for Christmas? Family?" Maggie asked.

"Doubt it," Carrie muttered.

"Oh that's terrible. You should ask him join us for Christmas then," Maggie told her sister.

"Yeah, maybe," Carrie replied, picking up the plate of potatoes as Quinn walked past her into the kitchen, Franny on his hip as he was being ordered around by a very bossy Ruby.

"And that one of my special glass and I use it on special occasions, so I want it tonight," she chattered at him. "So get it down from the shelf please."

"Roo?" Maggie asked warningly.

"Thank you Peter," Ruby said gravely and he gave a short laugh.

"You're welcome."

"Is Bill dropping by for Christmas?" Carrie asked suddenly and then instantly regretted the question.

"No … he's on a cruise in Caribbean with Saskia," Maggie said with a grimace. "He's already given me the presents for the girls – dropped them off before he left."

"Maggie – I'm so sorry," Carrie whispered.

"It's not your fault," Maggie told her.

"I can't help feeling that it is, though," Carrie muttered and Maggie forced a smile. 

"Let's not talk about this tonight … Peter – could I please trouble you to pour the wine?"

"Sure," he said agreeably.

"So what's the special occasion for the special glass, honey?" Maggie asked her youngest with a smile.

"Peter the Reindeer is visiting us tonight!" Ruby told her seriously and Carrie choked.

Dinner was an informal and cheerful affair. The girls were full of noisy chatter and questions that Quinn answered most deftly, a bemused smile curving his lips and a wondering expression in his eyes.

When Maggie asked if he wanted to join them for Christmas, his gaze immediately flickered over to Carrie's across the table (the girls had insisted on sitting on either side of him) and she had given him a wry smile. "Up to you," she had told him gently and he had hesitated, not sure if he would be intruding on this little family by being there on Christmas.

"Then you can help us decorate the tree tonight! Grandpa was the only one tall enough to put the star on the tree without a ladder!" Josie told him soberly and Quinn glanced at the Mathison sisters whose eyes were both gleaming with tears. It would be their first Christmas without Frank Mathison.

"How can I say no?" Quinn demanded. "I've never decorated a tree before – how will I know what to do?" he asked.

"We'll tell you exactly what to do," Ruby announced very emphatically in no uncertain terms and a laugh escaped Quinn's lips as the little girl nodded her head at him in a way that suddenly reminded him of Carrie at her bossiest.

He sat back and listened as Josie and Ruby squabbled and joked together, as Carrie fed Franny, as Maggie made sure his plate was loaded up with food … At one point he glanced up to see Carrie watching him intently, her expression enigmatic.

"I'm ok," he told her softly and she nodded and smiled.

"You wanna pass the potatoes then?" she asked him and the mundaneness of the request made him smile as he handed the bowl to her.

After dinner, Carrie rose to her feet. "Maggie – you go and rest. You cooked tonight, let me wash up. I'll keep Franny with me in the kitchen."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, go and put your feet up." 

Quinn helped her carry all the plates and bowls into the kitchen and made aeroplane noises as he flew Franny into the kitchen to sit in her high chair as an observer.

They stood side by side at the sink, Quinn with a dish towel in hand as Carrie washed up. "Is that true about you never having decorated a tree before?" she asked him suddenly and he stiffened.

"Yeah," he said briefly.

"Geez Quinn … please tell me you weren't raised in the forest by wolves or something …" 

That elicited a short, humourless laugh from him. She glanced over at him and his eyes were wintery and bleak. "Not quite," he told her, his smile forced.

"I'm really glad you're back," she told him. "I was pretty pissed at you but you're safe and that's what counts," she told him.

He nodded. "Yeah." He glanced up. "You haven't told me how you managed to get Dar Adal to agree to let you talk to me …"

"Not tonight," she told him. "I don't want to talk about that fucker tonight," she said with disgust on her face. "My nightmares are bad enough."

"Yeah, I can relate to that," Quinn muttered and Carrie looked at him sympathetically.

"Bad dreams?"

"It's a rare night when I don't have bad dreams, Carrie," he told her ruefully. "One of the unfortunate side benefits of my job."

"What do you dream about?" a voice asked from the doorway and they turned and saw Ruby standing in the doorway, eyes wide and curious.

Quinn flinched. Killing a child. Seeing his first kill over and over again, his head disappearing in a puddle of mud. Sandy being pulled out of the car. Hearing the constant sound of weeping or Sandy's voice screaming his name. Wondering if he would ever forget the stench of a decaying body, the smell of fresh blood spattered around a room.

"Just things … bad things," he managed to say hoarsely.

"Honey go back to your mom," Carrie told her niece gently.

"Josie says hurry up, we're ready," Ruby told her.

"OK," Carrie replied. The two of them washed up quickly and Carrie picked up her daughter. "I'm going to change her first- won't be long," she told him and he nodded and followed Ruby into the lounge where the naked tree was standing tall and magnificent near the window.

When Carrie returned, she sat back on the sofa next to Maggie and the two of them watched smilingly as Josie and Ruby decorated the lower branches of the tree and gave very precise orders about how Quinn was to decorate the upper branches. The unfortunate man was treated to the back-story of every single hand-made decoration.

"Carrie made that one when she was a kid," Maggie called out when Peter was holding an ugly, mangled bauble in his hand that might at some point have looked bell-shaped.

"Look, arts and crafts was never my strong suit," Carrie retorted defensively.

The tree almost groaned from the weight of the decorations and Quinn held Ruby in his arms to allow her to drape the tinsel around the tree.

"The star!" Josie announced and a hushed silence filled the room as Quinn reached up to put the star at the top of the tree.

Ruby did the honours of turning the Christmas lights on as Maggie turned off the light in the lounge.

"It's completely and absolutely perfect," Josie announced, hands clasped together and face transfigured with pure pleasure.

Quinn glanced over at Carrie who was smiling back at him and he found himself in complete agreement with Josie.


	5. A Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More fluff ... to counter Quinn's nightmares ...

"I am calling it a night – I am completely exhausted," Maggie announced finally, rising to her feet. "Come on girls, bed time," she told her daughters who wailed that they weren't sleepy and that they wanted to stay up with Carrie and Peter.

"No arguments," Maggie told them firmly. She turned to look at Quinn who was sitting on the couch beside Carrie. "If you're coming on Christmas, unless you have something better to do – come by tomorrow and help with Christmas baking," Maggie offered.

"I don't really bake," Quinn told her awkwardly and Maggie laughed.

"Child-minding while we bake then," Maggie told him.

"It's a deal," he replied with a tentative smile and Maggie smiled. 

"Good night, Peter – I'll see you tomorrow. Say good night to Peter," she told her daughters.

"Good night Peter!" they exclaimed.

"Well .. I guess I'd best head off then ..." he told Carrie.

"You can help me put her to bed before you go if you like," Carrie told him, handing him Franny.

"There's a set way to do that, too?" he demanded and she laughed, walking with him up the stairs.

She stood by and watched as he awkwardly put Franny down in her cot and tucked her in. She blinked back tears, feeling ridiculously sappy as he bent over and pressed a kiss to her daughter's forehead.

"Did I do that right?" he asked her and she nodded wordlessly and took his hand in hers. His hand tightened around hers and he stared down at her, his expression unreadable.

They walked out of Franny's room, stopping abruptly at the sight of a small figure in pyjamas standing in the hallway.

"Honey, you're supposed to be in bed," Carrie whispered at Ruby.

"This is for you to borrow, Peter," Ruby announced, her arm sticking straight out. Quinn released Carrie's hand and crouched down beside the little girl and stared down at the mysterious object she was holding in her small hand. Winnie the Pooh's face beamed up at him beatifically.

"What's this, Ruby?" he asked her curiously.

"It's my nightlight," she told him earnestly. "Mom gave it to me when I used to have nightmares - you know, when I was still small," She told him. "It will keep the nightmare away. You can borrow it - for your nightmares."

"Does it work?" he asked her wonderingly, tilting his head.

"Yes," she told him firmly.

"But what about you?" he asked her gently.

"I’m OK, I don't have nightmares anymore. I don't need it right now. You take it," she told him and he reached out and took it from her.

"Thank you," he told her sincerely and then looked bemused as she put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night, Peter," she told him before releasing him to kiss Carrie good night.

"What are you thinking?" Carrie asked him as they walked down the stairs together. 

"To be honest, I really don't know," he told her, his eyes looking mildly dazed. 

"You should try to get some sleep, you look exhausted," she observed, noting the faint shadows under his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm beat," he admitted. He had come over as soon as he'd finished his mission debrief, showered and shaved … "Don’t walk me outside – it's cold," he told her, reaching for his jacket and pulling it about his shoulders, putting Ruby's nightlight into the pocket carefully.

"Good night Car- " his words were cut off as she slid her hand into his hair, pulling him down for a kiss. He groaned, exploring her mouth with his lips and tongue. The kiss was less frantic than its predecessors as he took the time to linger and savour, enjoying the feel of having her in his arms, of feeling her heart pounding against his chest.

When they finally came up for air, they were both smiling. Aroused, frustrated but smiling … 

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes," he replied and pressed a kiss to her forehead, stroking the hair from her face before leaving.

*

_Quinn! Quinn!_

Sandy's terrified face stared at him, grey and drawn. As he blinked, it became a corpse, lying on the ground, the body of a child, his life stolen from him before his time. The screaming was unbearable, the eyes opened and reproached him and Quinn's eyes snapped open in the darkness, his breathing ragged as he stared blindly, taking a few seconds to recollect his surroundings. When he'd had nightmares while the team had been in Syria, the team had ignored him. All of them had nightmares - it was part of the job ... and despite all the shit they gave one another, they always pretended not to know about each other's bad dreams. It was an unspoken rule - one they all honoured.

Lucidity slowly returned. He was in his motel room, drenched in sweat, the nightmare still in his eyes and ears and he took a deep breath, gasping a little to try to return his heart-rate and breathing to normal. He turned his head to the side and focused on the warm glow coming from the power outlet.

Winnie the Pooh's benign face stared at him from the wall, smiling, strangely serene and Quinn muttered a half-laughing curse beneath his breath as he found himself laughing despite himself. He curled onto his side and stared at the light fixedly, regulating his breathing by focusing of the glow emitted by the cheap light until he drifted off to sleep, keeping the nightmares at bay with a child's talisman against the darkness.


	6. Gingerbread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the last snippet .. I'm out of ideas for this one unless anyone's got delicious prompts for me :)

Maggie's face was flushed. Having both Josie and Ruby underfoot was proving trying while she was trying to prepare all of the Christmas baking.

"Can you guys take the girls shopping maybe?" she asked, her hair falling about her face. Carrie and Quinn exchanged glances.

"You want us to go to mall hell during Christmas?" Carrie asked.

"Good point," she conceded. "How about gingerbread houses?" she asked. Josie and Ruby clapped their hands with glee. "Would you like to build gingerbread houses with Carrie and Peter?"

"Do you know anything about building gingerbread houses?" Carrie asked Quinn who shook his head.

"I'm happy to try," he told Maggie.

"I think you can buy kits from the supermarket," Carrie said, pulling a face.

"No, we can do better than that," Quinn told her. "Let's have a competition. Carrie and Josie will build a gingerbread house and Rubes and I can build the other one and then your mom can judge which one she likes best."

"It doesn't have to be a competition," Maggie said reprovingly.

"It'll be more fun that way," Carrie told her and Maggie immediately started to regret her suggestion.

*

The house was suddenly very quiet and the kitchen was deserted. It really didn't feel normal, suddenly having the kitchen to herself so Maggie went out in search of the rest of the family. 

As she walked past the dining room, she heard Quinn speaking earnestly with Ruby. "The construction of a gingerbread house needs to closely follow the building concepts of a real house. Proper planning is essential in order to ensure that it's defensible and safe."

Eyebrows raised, she then walked past the lounge where Carrie and Josie were engaged in deep conversation. "Josie, the gingerbread needs to be sturdy and demonstrate elasticity, which is the measure of its ability to resist deformation. The walls will be under stress from the roof so we need to make sure that there's sufficient resistance to avoid cracking or total collapse." Josie was nodding intently.

"And it has to taste good," Josie opined.

"Absolutely."

"Dear God, I've created a monster," Maggie muttered as she headed back to the kitchen.

*

She didn't hear a peep out of the four for the rest of the day, each of Carrie and Quinn taking turns to look after Franny who seemed perfectly content to switch teams from time to time. The house smelled of gingerbread as the rival teams shared kitchen space with her for a brief time to prepare gingerbread and frosting before then retiring to their separate war-rooms to construct.

Much later that day, she was summoned for the judging.

Carrie and Josie unveiled their creation first. It was… functional. Very simple in its construction although covered with all-sorts, M&Ms, chocolates and various other sweets.

"Would you like to do the intro, Josie?" Carrie asked and her niece nodded gravely before consulting her notes.

"There are many forces acting on a gingerbread house. If you take the roof, the forces on the sloping gingerbread roof includes the friction from the frosting – gravity pulls the roof towards the floor. To avoid collapse, it is best to spread out the forces over many surfaces. For example, a wider structure with a flatter rooftop will be sturdier than a narrow house with a sloping roof. Many gingerbread houses focus too much on appearance when the critical things are structural soundness and whether it tastes good."

"Sweet Jesus," Maggie muttered beneath her breath as Quinn coughed to stop himself from laughing.

"Go on sweetheart," Carrie told her. Josie smiled and looked down at her notes, having lost her spot. 

"If the height of the house is very high, the gingerbread is also more sensitive to buckling under the added weight of the extra gingerbread. To prevent buckling, Carrie and I calculated the critical height at which buckling occurs, which depended on such factors as gingerbread density and the force of gravity."

Quinn's mouth was twitching as he studied the gingerbread house which more resembled a gingerbread box. "Very nice."

"Be polite," Maggie reprimanded him.

"Now it's Peter and Ruby's turn," Maggie invited them.

Their gingerbread construction was a little more conventional in appearance, resembling a wooden cottage. The windows had shutters across them and there appeared to be a moat around the house.

Carrie's face looked incredulous. "You built a fortress?" she demanded of Quinn who held up a finger to his lips to shush her.

"Take it away, Rubes," Quinn encouraged the little girl who held up her notes and peered at them studiously.

"It's important that a house is defensible and safe," Ruby informed the group seriously. "With our house, we have ensured that the windows and doorways have been designed to have an excellent vantage point of the outside and with direct line of sight but also to minimise target reach areas."

"Target of what?" Carrie asked, a warning note in her voice as she shot Quinn a steely gaze.

_Are you teaching my niece counter-sniper tactics?_

"Snowballs of course," Ruby explained innocently, as if it was perfectly obvious.

"I see." Carrie said severely, while Quinn shot her an innocent smile, holding up his hands to profess innocence and sorrow at having been wronged.

"And is that fence you've got there electrified?" Carrie demanded sarcastically.

"Carrie, it's made of Kit Kat," Quinn told her patiently.

Maggie sighed. "I feel like this has turned into science fair ..."

"Or Sniper Alley in Kosovo," Carrie muttered underneath her breath.

"It's a draw," Maggie announced with a bright smile, prompting cries of protest from everyone in the room except Franny who merely cooed and waved her arms at the sounds everyone was making.

*

"Geez Quinn, I can't believe you helped my niece construct a sniper-friendly fortress," Carrie muttered much later when everyone else was upstairs asleep. The girls had been very reluctant to leave and had finally left, with Ruby declaring that this would be the "best Christmas ever!!"

The two of them were now in the darkened lounge room, lying side by side with their heads under the Christmas tree, staring up at the blinking Christmas lights.

"I can't believe you constructed what was essentially a box," Quinn retorted, turning his head to grin at her. "At least mine looked like a house .. kind of."

"Did you have fun today?" she asked him with a smile.

"Yeah … I did. You?"

She nodded. "It was good … it's good to see you like this."

"In the dark illuminated only by Christmas lights?" he teased.

"Fuck off, you know what I mean," she laughed, turning her head so that their lips could meet. When he tried to pull her closer, she pulled back, laughing at his curse of frustration.

"I am so not going to fuck you in my sister's house … that would be so weird."

"Wasn't asking for third base, just this," he told her, pulling her closer and kissing her again until they were both hot and bothered and she was trying to pull his shirt off.

This time it was his turn to pull away, laughing at her look of frustration. "You could come back to the motel with me … would feel a bit seedy though… or we could go to your place …"

Carrie exhaled. "No … it's probably too soon. I'm beginning to think that everyone I fuck ends up dead."

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Carrie you do not have a killer vagina, I'm more than happy to prove you wrong."

She shook her head. "Aayan was my fault … no one can argue with that … you're not the only one who has nightmares."

"Wanna borrow Ruby's night light?" he asked.

"She's already loaned me a My Little Pony one," Carrie said wryly. "But this is nice …" she told him. "Taking it slow … not rushing things … I like it – is that weird?" she asked him.

"Not at all," he told her. "Contrary to what teenage boys will tell you, we do not know die just because we abstain from sex."

"I won't make us wait too much longer," she promised.

"I'm willing to wait, Carrie – you're worth it. We're worth it."

As they kissed again and he held her close, he couldn't help agreeing with Ruby that this was the best Christmas ever.


End file.
